FORK)] HOB. 



POST-OKI 



i to Bdmburgh, when divided among UM letters actually curried, 

 did DO* mttd one penny for thirty -six latter*. Independently of iU 

 fslmsst. Ike obvious advantages of simplicity and economical manage- 

 ment were strongly in favour of a unifurm rate. 

 The publication of toil plan immediately incited a strong public 



r lathy in it* favour, and especially with the commercial olissei of 

 city of London. Mr. Wallace moved for a select committee to 

 inquire into ito meriU on the 9th May, 1837 ; but the motion fell to 

 the ground. On the 30th Hay, 1837, Lord Aahburton, upon prawnting 

 a petition from aome of the most eminent merchant*, banker*, men of 

 sal SUBS, and othera in the metropolis, to the Houae of Lords, apoke 

 strongly in favour of the plan. In the December of the name year the 

 gmrnmtimrt isssntnd to the ap|>ointuient of a select committee to 

 inquire into and report upon the plan. A society of merchant* was 

 forthwith formed in the city of London to furnish evidence of the evils 

 of the high rate* of postage, and the insufficiency of the Poet-Office 

 management in answering the want* of the present times. The subject 

 began to excite much interest throughout the country. In the session 

 of 1837 five petitions were presented to the House of Commons in 

 favour of the plan. In 1838 upward* of 820 were presented, of which 

 number seventy-three emanated from town councils, and nineteen from 

 chambers of commerce. After sitting upwards of sixty-three dan, and 

 ...mining Mr. Rowland Hill and eighty-three witnesses, besides the 

 officers of the department* of the Post-Office and the Excise and Stamp 

 office*, the committee piosented a most elaborate report in favour of 

 the whole plan, confirming by authentic and official data the conclusion* 

 which Mr. Hill had formed from very scanty and imperfect materials. 

 The appearance of the committee's report seemed to inspire the 

 whole country with confidence in the plan. Petitions in it* favour 

 amounting to 2000 were presented to both houses of parliament in the 

 sssinn of 1839. The Duke of Richmond, then postmaster-general, 

 advised the government to adopt it ; and the chancellor of the exchequer 

 brought forward a bill to enable the Treasury to carry the plan into 

 effect, which was carried by a majority of one hundred in the House 

 of Commons, and passed into law on the 17th August, 1839. In the 

 following month an arrangement was made which secured Mr. Rowland 

 Hill's superintendence of the working out his own measure. On the 

 5th December, 1839, as a preparatory measure, to accustom the depart- 

 ment to the mode of charging by weight, the inland rates were reduced 

 to an uniform charge of 4d. per half ounce. The scale of weight for 

 letters advanced at a single rate for each half ounce up to sixteen 

 ounces. Other reductions were made in the packet-rates; and the 

 London district post waa reduced from 2<A and 3d. to Id. This 

 measure continued in force until the 10th January, 1840, when a 

 uniform inland rate of postage of Id. per half ounce, payable in advance, 

 or '2.d. payable on delivery, came into operation. On this day parlia- 

 mentary franking entirely ceased. On the 6th May stamps were 

 introduced. The warrant* of the lords of the Treasury which autho- 

 rised these changes were published in the London Gazette of the 22ud 

 November, 28th December, 1839 ; 25th April, 1840. 



The first entire year of the penny postage was 1840, but then letters 

 might be paid, or stamped, or were charged double. In that year 

 191,931,365 letters pouted through the post-offices of the United 

 Kingdom. The revenue derived from the Post-Office had been 

 1.649.088/. in 1839; in 1840 it only amounted to 495,61 4/. In 1845 

 the number of letters had reached 329,161,811, and the revenue 

 760,5882. The number of letters and the amount of net revenue con- 

 tinued to increase rapidly. In 1848 the additional advantage was 

 given of a book-post, by which single books could be sent, open at the 

 ends, at an uniform rate of G</. per pound. This privilege waa gradu- 

 ally extended to tin llrili-li colonies. In 1855 the rate of postage for 

 printed sheet* was reduced to Id. for a quarter of a )x>und, 2</. for 

 half a pound, and '2rf. extra for each fraction above half a pound ; l.ut 

 if 4/. or upwards were paid, the packet might contain any nui 

 sheets written or printed, except that the writing must not be of the 

 nature of a letter. The lost regulation issued in 1867 is that the |ucket 

 may contain, in every case, any number of sheet*, written or printed, but 

 the written matter must not be of the nature of a letter, and may 

 consist of bound book*, or maps or prints on rollers, or whatever is 

 necessary to the safe transmission of literary or artistic matter, such 

 packet*, however, not to exceed two feet in length, depth, or width, 

 and all must be open at the end* or aide*. Such packets may also be 

 nt to all the British colonies at the rate of Srf. for 4 oz., Gd. for 8 oz., 

 and then proceeding at the rate of 6d. for every 8 oz., or i>rti..u 

 thereof, except to Ascension Island, the East Indie*, Hong Kong, 

 Australia, New Zealand, and the Gold Coast, to all of which the rates 

 are one-third more, and the weight i* restricted to three pounds. By 

 various convention* the foreign postage of letters has been materially 

 reduced, in some cue* 60 per cent, and in others varying from 17 to 

 20 per cent. The rate* to all the British colonies wereln 1857 reduced 

 to an uniform rate of 6d. per half -ounce, payable in advance. 



The sixth annual return of the Post-Office for 1859 state* that the 



total number of letter* delivered in the year was 545,000,000, of which 



"0,000 were in England and Wale*, 47,000,000 in Ireland, and 



52,000,000 in Scotland. These numbers give an average, in England, 



latter* for each person of the population (in London it amount* 



to 43 for each), in Ireland of 7 for each, and in Scotland of 16 for 



each person. The number of newspaper* passing through 'the Port- 



Office was 70,500,000, more than half of which bore the newspaper 

 tamp. The number of book-packet* waa about 11,000,000. There 

 470,000 newspapers, and 1,900 



.""> letters that from various 



>U*M could not be delivered, chiefly from illegible or erroneous 

 lirection*. The grow revenue (including the produce i.f the impressed 

 stamps on newspaper*, received by the Inland Revenue Office) wa* 

 3,448,0741; the cost of management, 2,312,1 H/. (including 444,5192. 

 or mail-packet*, defrayed by the Admiralty, but fairly chargeable to 

 .he Post-office), which, added to the net revenue, 1,1 35,96(5., equal* 

 the revenue derived from the Post-Offioe in 1838; while the number 

 of letter* delivered ha* increased by 460,000,000. The cost of manage- 

 nent includes the following items : Salaries, pensions, &c., 1,037, 

 buildings, 32,0811. ; conveyance of mail* by railways, 446,00i> 

 coaches, carts, Ac., and wage* of mail-guards, 168,5072. ; by mail- 

 nckeU (when paid for by the Post-Office) and private ships, 64542. ; 

 or manufacture of postage-stamps, 25,9402. ; miscellaneous, including 

 conveyance of mail* in the colonies, under the postal direction of the 

 xwtmastor-general, the conveyance of the mails through Egypt, 

 clothing for letter-carriers and guards, rents, taxes, law expenses, 4c., 

 138,4461. 



In November, 1840, a most important improvement was introduced by 

 an increased facility in transmitting small sums of money. The Post- 

 Office had been accustomed to give order* on local post-offices for sum* 

 under 52. 5., for which they charged 5 per cent. ; and as the order was 

 on a separate sheet, it involved double postage. The order was next 

 given on a sheet of letter-paper, which saved a postage; later, the 

 charge was reduced to a fixed sum of 1. 6d. for sums between 21. and 

 51., and 6d. for sums lees than '21. These charges were reduced to 6d. 

 and 3d. respectively : the effect was prodigious. In the three in 

 ending Feb. 5, 1841, the amount paid on such orders was 61" 

 against 81 4 1/, in the corresponding months of 1840. For some 

 however, the expenses of the Money-Order Office, for which a distinct 

 staff" had to be organised, exceeded the profits. But the increase of 

 business has been continuous, and money-orders ore now the source at 

 a large revenue, except in Ireland. In 1859 the total number of 

 money -orders issued in the United Kingdom was 6,969,108, t 

 amount of 13,250,9301., an increase of 4] per cent, over 1858. Of tin- 

 total number, 5,932,133 orders, to the amount of 11,358,057*., were 

 issued in England ; 498,828, to the amount of 891,675*., in li. 

 and 538,147, to the amount of 1,001,2982., in Scotland. The commis- 

 sion gave a profit, after deducting expenses, in England, of 2 7 . 

 and in Scotland of 20192. ; in Ireland there was a loss of 6641. The 

 number of orders gives an average of 1 for every 3 persons in England, 

 for every 6 in Scotland, and for every 13 in Ireland. >1 

 office* have also been established at Malta, Gibraltar, and in Canada. 



In 1855 some important improvements in matters of detail were 

 introduced with great success. Country letters to London, or passing 

 through London, were either sorted at the provincial offices or during 

 their transmission, and this expedited the morning delivery in London 

 by nearly an hour. Pillar letter-boxes were also erected in London, 

 Edinburgh, and Dublin ; they have been since extended to most con- 

 siderable places in the United Kingdom. In 1859 there were 825 

 head offices, 10,587 sub-offices, and 1958 road letter-boxes; a total of 

 13,370 public receptacles for letters, against 4518 before the establish- 

 ment of the penny postage. London was also divided into 10 districts, 

 each having a district head-office, by which letters posted in ail 

 for a neighbouring place are spared the loss of time incurred by trans- 

 mission to the chief office, and thus a more speedy delivery is attained ; 

 :mi I this division also greatly facilitates the sorting of inland letters ; 

 but to effect this, the initial letters of East Central, West Central, 

 North, East, South, West, North East, North West, South En- 

 South West, must be distinctly placed at the end of the direction an. i- 

 " London." A book, price one penny, has been published, distinguishing 

 all the streets and places within the different districts. 



Nearly every town of any size throughout the three kingdoms has 

 at least two deliveries a day from and to its metropolis and the larger 

 provincial towns. In 1859 there were 77 such towns added to the 

 list. In the same year the mails within the United Kingdom were 

 conveyed daily over 140,321 miles of way ; of this, 35,604 miles are by 

 railway, at an average rate of 9$rf. a mile ; 32,936 by coaches, mail- 

 cart*, Ac., at an average of 2^</. a mile ; 68,964 by carriers on foot, at 

 an average rate of Ho. a mile; and 2817 miles by packets and boot* 

 between different places in the United Kingdom, at rates varying from 

 5. 6J<2. a mile to \d. 



The total number of person*, engaged in the service of the Poet-Office 

 for the United Kingdom was 24,802, on December 81, 1859, including 

 1 postmaster-general; 6 secretaries, assistant secretaries, and secretaries 

 for Ireland and Scotland; 15 surveyors ; 18 other superior officers, 

 such as heads of department*, chief clerks in the metropolitan offices, 

 Ac.; 11,235 postmaster*; 1682 clerks (exclusive of sonic amj 

 temporarily); 197 guards; 11,076 letter-carriers, messengers, 4c. ; 

 7 marine officers ; 125 postmasters, clerks, &c., in the colonies; and 

 61 agents in foreign countries. Of this number about 2000 are 

 attached to the London staff, and (including this number) about 3800 

 are employed in the London district 



The third annual report of the postmaster-general for 1850, in an 

 .i|>l ndix, state* that " in no part of the United Kingdom bos more 

 been done for the welfare of the people by the use of railways for 



